Fat Mattress (album)

Fat Mattress is the debut self-titled studio album by English folk rock band Fat Mattress, released on 15 August 1969.

Fat Mattress
Studio album by
Fat Mattress
Released15 August 1969
Recorded1968 (1968)–1969 (1969)
GenreFolk rock, psychedelic rock, progressive rock, art rock
Length36:30
LabelPolydor, Atco
ProducerFat Mattress
Fat Mattress chronology
Fat Mattress
(1969)		 Fat Mattress II
(1970)
Singles from Fat Mattress
  1. "Magic Forest"
    Released: 1969

Background

Fat Mattress was formed in late-1968 by vocalist Neil Landon and guitarist and vocalist Noel Redding, who was then playing bass with the popular psychedelic rock band The Jimi Hendrix Experience.[1] Landon and Redding had already written a number of songs for Landon's cancelled solo project and, with the recruitment of bassist Jim Leverton and drummer Eric Dillon, completed writing and began recording their first material.[1] The self-titled debut was completed the next year, and was released in the United Kingdom by Polydor Records on 15 August and in the United States by Atco Records in October.[2] In promotion of the album, the band also released their debut single, "Magic Forest",[3][4] which reached number 11 in the Netherlands.[5]

Fat Mattress was later reissued in 1992 by Sequel Records featuring five new songs, all of which were later included on the 2000 compilation album The Black Sheep of the Family: The Anthology(which also contained three more previously unreleased songs);[2] Castle Communications subsequently re-released the 15-track reissue on 5 March 1996 under the title One.[6] The album was reissued again on 29 June 2009 by Esoteric Recordings with eight bonus tracks, all of which had already appeared on The Black Sheep of the Family anthology.[7][8]

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
allmusic[2]

The debut album by Fat Mattress was a minor commercial success, charting at number 134 on the American Billboard 200 albums chart (then known as the Pop Albums chart).[9] The album was described, in a review for allmusic, by critic Richie Unterberger as "passable, pleasant late-'60s psychedelia with a far lighter touch than the hard bluesy psychedelic rock Redding played with Hendrix."[2] Unterberger went on to suggest that the album is "often like an amalgam of the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Moby Grape, and Love, with some passing nods to British psychedelia by Traffic [...], the Move, and the Small Faces; there's even a bit of a Monkees-go-spacy feel to 'I Don't Mind.'"[2]

Track listing
Original LP
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead vocalist(s)Length
1."All Night Drinker"Neil Landon, Jim LevertonLandon and Leverton3:18
2."I Don't Mind"Landon, Noel ReddingRedding and Landon3:51
3."Bright New Way"Landon, LevertonLeverton3:48
4."Petrol Pump Assistant"Landon, ReddingLandon3:01
5."Mr. Moonshine"Landon, ReddingLandon and Redding4:04
6."Magic Forest"Landon, LevertonLeverton and Landon3:05
7."She Came in the Morning"LandonLandon3:47
8."Everything's Blue"ReddingLandon2:50
9."Walking Through a Garden"ReddingRedding4:20
10."How Can I Live"Landon, ReddingLandon, Redding, and Leverton4:26
Total length:36:30
1992 and 1996 reissues
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead vocalist(s)Length
11."Little Girl in White"ReddingRedding4:08
12."Margarita"Landon, LevertonLeverton and Landon4:14
13."Which Way to Go"LevertonLeverton3:03
14."Future Days"LevertonLeverton and Landon4:02
15."Cold Wall of Stone"Jeanette Jacobs, Landon, LevertonLandon2:36
Total length:54:33
2009 reissue
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead vocalist(s)Length
11."Naturally"Landon, Leverton 3:02
12."Iridescent Butterfly"LandonLandon3:42
13."Magic Forest" (mono single version)Landon, LevertonLeverton and Landon2:57
14."Little Girl in White"ReddingRedding4:08
15."Eric the Red"Landon, Leverton, Reddingnone2:57
16."Black Sheep of the Family"Steve Hammond 4:29
17."Hall of Kings"Landon 5:34
18."Which Way to Go" (performed by Jim Leverton)LevertonLeverton 

Personnel

Release history
Region Date Label Format Catalog Ref.
United Kingdom 15 August 1969 Polydor LP 583,056 [2][10][11]
United States October 1969 Atco LP SD 33-309 [2][10][12]
Canada 1969 Polydor LP 543,075 [13]
Germany 1969 Polydor LP 184,305 [14]
United Kingdom 1992 Sequel CD 1019 [2][15]
United Kingdom 5 March 1996 Castle CD NEX196 [6]
United Kingdom 29 June 2009 Esoteric CD 2134 [7][8]

References
General
  • "Fat Mattress > Credits". allmusic. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
  • "Fat Mattress – Fat Mattress (LP, Album)". Discogs. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
Specific
  1. Underberger, Richie. "Fat Mattress > Biography". allmusic. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
  2. Unterberger, Richie. "Fat Mattress > Review". allmusic. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
  3. "Fat Mattress – Magic Forest (7")". Discogs. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
  4. "Magic Forest / Petrol Pump Assistant by Fat Mattress". Rate Your Music. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
  5. "Magic Forest" chart history, dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  6. "One > Overview". allmusic. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
  7. "Fat Mattress". Esoteric Recordings. Archived from the original on 28 March 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2010.
  8. "Fat Mattress [Bonus Tracks] > Overview". allmusic. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
  9. "Fat Mattress > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums". allmusic. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
  10. Shapiro, Harry; Glebbeek, Caesar (1995). Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. p. 584. ISBN 0-312-13062-7.
  11. "Fat Mattress by Fat Mattress". Rate Your Music. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
  12. "Fat Mattress by Fat Mattress". Rate Your Music. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
  13. "Fat Mattress by Fat Mattress". Rate Your Music. Retrieved 17 January 2014..
  14. "Fat Mattress by Fat Mattress". Rate Your Music. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
  15. "Fat Mattress by Fat Mattress". Rate Your Music. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
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